


Sam Really Shouldn't Have To Deal With This

by givebackmylifecas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Castiel (Supernatural), Castiel and Gabriel (Supernatural) are Siblings, Coda, Episode: s13e17 The Thing, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Gabriel (Supernatural), Hurt/Comfort, It's All Okay In The End, M/M, Mentioned Sam/Eileen, Poor Sam Winchester, Sam Is So Done, Season/Series 13, sabriel if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givebackmylifecas/pseuds/givebackmylifecas
Summary: Coda to s13e17:Sam is left alone in the bunker to guard the rift and look after Gabriel. When Castiel arrives home he is less than impressed to hear that Sam let Dean go into an alternate dimension - especially since the two of them are still sort of fighting. Sam really isn't paid enough to deal with this shit.





	Sam Really Shouldn't Have To Deal With This

**Author's Note:**

> This is my coda to the season 13 episode "The Thing"
> 
> Trigger warnings for mild aggression from Cas, very vague descriptions of Gabriel's injuries.  
> Mostly it's just Cas angsting and poor Sam having to put up with it, but it does have a happy ending.

The righteous anger of an Angel of the Lord was a thing to behold – Sam just really wished he wasn’t the one it was directed at.

Approximately sixteen and a half hours after Dean and Ketch had disappeared through the rift, Castiel had returned to the bunker. He had spent the better part of a week searching for the seal of Solomon and was extremely unimpressed that Sam and Dean had failed to tell him that he could stop looking. Sam blamed Dean – Castiel was Dean’s boyfriend not his, so why was he expected to keep the angel updated?

The minute Castiel sees the rift, flickering in the centre of the room, with no sign of Dean, Sam is cowering in a chair as Castiel yells at him.

“You let him go alone?”, Castiel shouts, his eyes glowing and Sam feels all the hair on his body stand on end as electricity crackles through the air.

Sam decides he can either do the smart thing and tremble before the angel or stand up for himself. He never could understand why everyone thinks he’s the smart one.

“Like I had a choice? You know once he sets his mind to something there’s no stopping him! And he’s not alone, Ketch went with him.”, Sam hisses and Castiel’s face darkens even more – something Sam had previously thought impossible – as the lamp closest to them goes out with a small “pop”.

He takes a menacing step towards where Sam is sitting, so Sam stands and draws himself up to his full height, which for the first time doesn’t feel like it’s much more than Castiel’s.

“So not only did you decide not to accompany him, you sent him with that psychotic man?”

“Well it’s not like you were here to go with him, so I didn’t have much choice!”, Sam retorts and Cas recoils like he’s been physically slapped. The eerie flickering in the angel’s eyes subsides and suddenly he just looks human – and tired.

“If I could have been here, I would have. But Dean and I… we are not on the best terms at the moment.”, the angel says quietly and Sam sighs.

“I know, the whole Scooby-Doo thing was difficult and Dean behaved childishly, but Cas… you have to know he would never have actually done anything with Daphne. He was just fooling around. You’re the one he really wants.”

Castiel gives him a small smile. “I don’t think I’m what anyone really wants, Sam. A broken angel isn’t usually high on the list of people’s dream partners.”

“Cas –“, Sam begins, but he’s interrupted by a whimper from the next room. Cas’ head jerks sharply in the direction of the noise.

“What was that?”, he asks and Sam grimaces.

“I was going to tell you, I swear, but we got wrapped up in the thing with Dean and…”, Sam begins.

Castiel glares. “Tell me what, Sam?”

Sam hangs his head. “Gabriel.”, he whispers. “He’s alive.”

Castiel stiffens. “He can’t be. Lucifer he… he killed him.”

“No, he’s here. Come on, I’ll show you.”, Sam says, leading Castiel into the library and there in the corner, curled into a ball on the floor, still in the bloodstained rags Asmodeus had forced him to wear is:

“Gabriel.”, Castiel breathes and the Archangel’s head jerks up at the sound of his brother’s voice.

Castiel rushes towards Gabriel, and reaches out to touch him, but Gabriel flinches and tries to scoot away from him. Castiel is horrified.

“What happened to him?”, he asks Sam, who shrugs.

“All we know is that Asmodeus had him and was using him for his grace. Then he pissed off Ketch, who decided to free Gabriel and bring him here. He hasn’t spoken. His mouth was sewn shut, I removed the wires, but he hasn’t let me touch him since.”

Castiel crouches down onto the floor beside the Archangel. Gabriel is still several feet from him, but he hasn’t moved any further away. Slowly, ever so slowly, Castiel inches towards him, hand extended. Gabriel watches with the air of a frightened animal, but doesn’t recoil.

“Esiasacahe t i ol, Castiel.”, Cas says quietly in what Sam recognises as Enochian. The angel gets closer and leaves his hand hovering a couple of inches from Gabriel’s shoulder.

It’s a question, Sam realises, Castiel is asking for permission to touch him. Gabriel gives him silent acquiescence by slowly moving closer until Castiel’s fingers are brushing the rough fabric of his tunic.

Sam hears Cas let out a sigh of relief and he can see the pulse of grace that Castiel sends through his hand and into Gabriel. He watches as the wounds on Gabriel’s face, especially around his mouth, are slowly healed and Cas even goes so far as to clean his brother of the dried blood that covers him like a second skin.

Castiel kneels before Gabriel and Sam hears him speak again. “Ol lava lap zomdv rit. Ol gen ge zodonurenusagi elasa. Par gohe elasa zirom a a affa.”

Gabriel looks up at Castiel, he still doesn’t speak, but he gives an approximation of a smile that has Castiel throwing his arms around him. The two of them sit there, huddled together and the moment seems so private that Sam feels compelled to leave. He returns to the war room and watches the rift.

 

A few hours later, Cas joins him. “I owe you an apology, Sam. Dean clearly wasn’t prepared to listen to you, and it wasn’t your fault that he went through that rift. I am glad you are here to watch over my brother when I could not.”

Sam smiles softly. “You don’t need to apologise Cas, I know what it’s like to lose the person you love and how hard it is to watch them put themselves in danger.”

“Eileen was a very brave woman.”, Castiel says quietly and Sam nods.

“How is Gabriel?”, he asks the angel.

Cas looks at him for a moment, as if struggling to find words. “He is very damaged. I do not know the full extent of what Asmodeus did to him, but his vessel was almost beyond repair, and his grace is... fragile. I do not know if he will ever fully recover.”

“Has he said anything yet?”, Sam asks and Castiel nods.

“One thing: elasa gen ge unig rit.”

Sam frowns. “Yeah, I’m not going to lie, I don’t know what that means. Something with forgiveness?”

Castiel gives a small smile. “Earlier, when I was speaking to him, I begged him for forgiveness. I asked that he forgive me for believing him dead, for not being able to save him. He said I did not need to be forgiven.”

Sam agrees with Gabriel. “He’s right, Cas. We all thought he was dead, we saw Lucifer kill him. There was nothing you – or anyone – could have done.”

Castiel nods, but Sam isn’t sure Cas believes him.

They sit in silence, carefully watching the clock until 25 minutes before the rift is due to close, it begins to flicker.

They jump to their feet, Sam pulling his gun and Castiel producing his angel blade from nowhere.

Sam flicks off the safety and aims at whatever is about to come out of the rift, but immediately lowers the gun when he sees his mother, Jack and finally Dean come stumbling through.

Mary looks slightly shell-shocked as he wraps his arms around her, but Jack seems unphased as though he uses interdimensional portals every day.

Sam catches Dean’s eye. “Ketch?”, he asks and Dean just shakes his head. Sam isn’t all that upset that his brother didn’t bring that psychopath back with him.

Dean turns to head towards the kitchen and Sam can pinpoint the exact moment that his brother sets eyes on Castiel. Dean freezes in his tracks as he and Castiel do that thing that Sam still doesn’t really understand where they just stare at each other. Eventually Dean jerks his head towards the kitchen and Castiel nods, following him out of the room.

 

Sam really, really shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but he figures that if he had to be yelled at by a scary-ass angel then he should at least have the pleasure of hearing the same thing happen to his brother. He separates himself from Mary who says that she needs to shower and wash off any remnants of that other world, and closes the rift, before sidling out into the hallway. He quietly sneaks down the hall and stops just outside the kitchen door. It is surprisingly quiet, no yelling at all, instead Castiel sounds apologetic.

“I am sorry for leaving again.”, Sam hears a rather contrite sounding Castiel say.

Dean sighs. “It’s okay, I know why you left. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for going through that rift without telling you.”

Castiel huffs a laugh. “Yes, that was not your finest moment. I am glad that you managed to return safely with Jack and your mother though.”

Sam risks a glance into the kitchen and sees Dean is sitting at the table, across from Castiel who is staring at his hands. Thankfully, neither of them are facing in his direction.

“I really am sorry, Cas. About the whole Daphne thing. It’s just that was always a-“, Dean begins, but Castiel cuts him off.

“A fantasy. Yes, I know Dean. It was a fantasy and I’m sorry you didn’t get to fulfil it.”

Dean scrubs a hand across his face. “Cas we’ve been over this before, I wouldn’t actually have done anything with her. I just got caught up in the rush of things.”

Cas finally looks up from his hands and if Sam didn’t know any better, he’d say the angel was on the verge of tears. He remembers what Cas was saying earlier about how no-one would want a broken angel and his heart aches a little for the man.

“I know, Dean. You’ve said so before, and yet – she represents something which I can never give you. She is female, and innocent and perfect and –“, Cas says, his voice rougher than usual.

“Yeah, she’s also a cartoon, Cas!”, Dean says, loudly interrupting the angel.

The lightbulbs in the kitchen start to flicker and Sam glances around nervously.

 _For God’s sake Dean, pull your head out of your ass, this is so not about Daphne!_ Sam thinks to himself.

“That isn’t the point, Dean. You could leave the bunker right now and find any number of beautiful, whole, unscathed women within the hour. Instead you’re stuck with me, some creature that you don’t even trust enough to tell that you’re going into another dimension where anything could have happened to you! Where you could have died!”, Castiel yells, his voice cracking on the last word. The lights have stopped flickering and the angel looks almost deflated.

Sam is seriously considering intervening and giving his brother a good smack on the head, when he sees Dean getting up from his chair and rounding the table to wrap his arms around Cas. He sees the angel sag against his brother and Dean just tightens his grip on him.

“I knew this wasn’t about Daphne.”, Dean mutters and Sam rolls his eyes. “Cas, I’m sorry I went to that place without letting you know. I wasn’t thinking and I swear to you, it’ll never happen again.”

Cas nods against Dean’s chest and Sam sighs in relief. He was honestly worried for a second that his brother was going completely miss the true reason Cas was upset.

“Now, if I promise to stop flirting with cartoon characters and disappearing into alternate dimensions, do you think we’ll be alright?”, Dean asks with a slight grin, but Sam can tell that there’s an undercurrent of genuine worry running through that question. “You know you’re the only one for me, Cas.”, he adds and Cas’ features lift into a genuine smile.

“Of course, en geraa od aoiveae.”, Castiel says, before pulling Dean into a passionate kiss, that leaves Sam feeling slightly nauseated. He decides to stop looking into the kitchen and instead tries to think of a way to enter the room without it looking like he’d been eavesdropping, when he hears them finally break apart.

“Damn Cas, what was that for?” Sam hears Dean ask, sounding slightly out of breath.

“Your brother is outside the door, I thought it would be amusing to see if it would disgust him.”, Cas answers in a monotone voice and Sam groans as he hears Dean yell:

“Goddamnit Sammy!”

He takes a breath and walks into the kitchen with a frown on his face.

“Well excuse me for caring and wanting to make sure you two get your heads out of your asses.”, Sam says indignantly and he can see amusement dancing in Castiel’s eyes.

“We are very grateful for your concern, Sam.”, Cas says and Dean glowers.

Sam glares right back. “Don’t look at me like that, Dean. I was the one who had an angry angel on his hands - because of you, I might add.”

“Whatever.”, Dean says and Sam grins. Dean takes Cas’ hand and starts to tug him out of the room.

“C’mon Cas, let’s go. We have a lot of “us time” to catch up on.”, Dean says, throwing Sam a lascivious wink on his way out. Cas looks mildly disapproving but can’t quite hide the happiness on his face as he follows Dean out of the kitchen and Sam shudders in mock-disgust.

 

He watches the two of them go, before slowly walking towards the library, where Gabriel is still sat in a corner, although he looks a lot better than before thanks to Castiel.

Sam isn’t quite sure what to say to an archangel that has possibly spent years being tortured, so he just pulls a random book from one the shelves and starts to read out loud:

“Once a term the whole school went for a walk – that is to say the three masters took part as well as all the boys. It was usually a pleasant outing, and everyone looked forward to it…”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always drop me a Kudos or Comment if you hated/mildly enjoyed this, or say hi on [tumblr](https://hefellfordean.tumblr.com/)  
> [Check out my other works!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/givebackmylifecas/works)  
> Translations of the Enochian bits (they're not super exact or correct but it's a hard language so go easy on me):  
> 1\. Brother, it is I, Castiel  
> 2\. I beg you for forgiveness. I could not save you. They said you were in the empty  
> 3\. You do not need forgiveness  
> 4\. My moon and stars
> 
> Also, mega bonus points to whoever figures out what Sam is reading to Gabriel at the end!


End file.
